The speed of the planets, appeared to increase; and, presently, I was watching the sun, all ringed about with hair-like circles of different colored fire—­the paths of the planets, hurtling at mighty speed, about the central flame....

“... the sun grew vast, as though it leapt to meet me....  And now I was within the circling of the outer planets, and flitting swiftly, toward the place where the earth, glimmering through the blue splendor of its orbit, as though a fiery mist, circled the sun at a monstrous speed....” [3]

XV

THE NOISE IN THE NIGHT

And now, I come to the strangest of all the strange happenings that have befallen me in this house of mysteries.  It occurred quite lately—­within the month; and I have little doubt but that what I saw was in reality the end of all things.  However, to my story.

I do not know how it is; but, up to the present, I have never been able to write these things down, directly they happened.  It is as though I have to wait a time, recovering my just balance, and digesting—­as it were—­the things I have heard or seen.  No doubt, this is as it should be; for, by waiting, I see the incidents more truly, and write of them in a calmer and more judicial frame of mind.  This by the way.

It is now the end of November.  My story relates to what happened in the first week of the month.

It was night, about eleven o’clock.  Pepper and I kept one another company in the study—­that great, old room of mine, where I read and work.  I was reading, curiously enough, the Bible.  I have begun, in these later days, to take a growing interest in that great and ancient book.  Suddenly, a distinct tremor shook the house, and there came a faint and distant, whirring buzz, that grew rapidly into a far, muffled screaming.  It reminded me, in a queer, gigantic way, of the noise that a clock makes, when the catch is released, and it is allowed to run down.  The sound appeared to come from some remote height—­somewhere up in the night.  There was no repetition of the shock.  I looked across at Pepper.  He was sleeping peacefully.

Gradually, the whirring noise decreased, and there came a long silence.

All at once, a glow lit up the end window, which protrudes far out from the side of the house, so that, from it, one may look both East and West.  I felt puzzled, and, after a moment’s hesitation, walked across the room, and pulled aside the blind.  As I did so, I saw the Sun rise, from behind the horizon.  It rose with a steady, perceptible movement.  I could see it travel upward.  In a minute, it seemed, it had reached the tops of the trees, through which I had watched it.  Up, up—­It was broad daylight now.  Behind me, I was conscious of a sharp, mosquito-like buzzing.  I glanced ’round, and knew that it came from the clock.  Even as I looked, it marked off an hour.  The minute hand was moving ’round the dial, faster than an ordinary second-hand.  The hour hand moved quickly from space to space.  I had a numb sense of astonishment.  A moment later, so it seemed, the two candles went out, almost together.  I turned swiftly back to the window; for I had seen the shadow of the window-frames, traveling along the floor toward me, as though a great lamp had been carried up past the window.